Interpreting everyday contemporary art

During a trip to Taipei Fine Arts Museum, I had the opportunity to catch the tail end of the exhibition “In the Sunshine of the Relaxed Majorities” by contemporary artist James Ming-Hsueh Lee (李明學). In this unique solo exhibition he used a sense “of humor to reinterpret the items that surround us in our daily lives”.

Contemporary exhibitions like this i.e. those that utilize everyday products, can be controversial. Are they really works of art if the artist takes an item that was created by someone else for a different purpose and then uses it in a different way to call it his own? Is this a reinterpretation? Is it innovative? Is it creative? Did it really take any skill? Does context matter? And, does the artist need to explain what s/he has done for it to have meaning beyond the obvious? Or is leaving the art open to interpretation necessary? Do any of these questions even matter?

I saw many creative pieces of art that I liked and some that I wasn’t quite sure about. However, one particular piece by Lee that I quite liked is a colorful circle. Take a guess as to what you think it’s made of. Give up? It’s made of coffee cup sleeves from different coffee shops in Taipei. It’s innovative, colorful and looks pretty cool … at least to me. What do you think?

I think ultimately what one person doesn’t consider art - contemporary art, modern art, fine art or otherwise - can certainly be art to another. We all have our own perspectives and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just because someone likes or doesn’t like something doesn’t mean I have to.

What do you think?

While the exhibition is over, you can find a link to his page at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum here. And if you want to see more art from Asia check out what we have to offer by going to our shop or a specific artist's page.

In the Sunshine of the Relaxed Majorities by James Ming-Hsueh Lee

Black Circle is the name of different color coffee sleeves linked together to form a circle

Typical and colorful supermarket products

A multitude of the same product

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